Above: Congresswoman Judy Chu receiving an award with 1882 Project Steering Com- mittee—from left Ted Gong, Floyd Mori, Judy Chu, Carolyn Chan, Michael Lin, Ginny Gong, Martin Gold.
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Above: Congresswoman Judy Biggert receiving an award with 1882 Project Steering Com- mittee—from left Ted Gong, Floyd Mori, Judy Biggert, Michael Lin, Martin Gold, Ginny Gong, Carolyn Chan.
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Submitted by Ted Gong, Co-Chair, 1882 Project, and President of D.C. Lodge of the Chinese American Citizens Alliance

Congress has spoken. Finally. And now, the work…our work…must continue.

For one hundred and forty years, the injustice and even violence inflicted on Chinese persons on American soil because of the infamous Chinese Exclusion Laws went without official recognition or apology. Beginning with the Act of 1882, and continuing for many decades, it was the official policy of the United States government to exclude people of Chinese ethnicity from participating in American life. Sure, we could wash the laundry of American citizens or build their railroads or dig their mines, or even fight in America’s wars. But we were not considered for basic opportunities and rights, including citizenship. The treatment of Chinese people on American soil as inferior to those of other races led, in many cases, to extreme prejudice and even violence.

Thanks to the 1882 Project, the official silence has been broken. The 1882 Project began with a petition of over 150 signatures presented to Congress in May 2010. Led by the National Council of Chinese Americans and Chinese American Citizens Alliance, the mission galvanized support from thousands of persons throughout the United States. We reached across generational lines, and drew support from scores of national organizations.

Now the legislative branch of the American government, the people’s representatives, has recognized this stain on our nation’s history. First, the Senate unanimously a resolution repudiating past discrimination against Chinese persons PUT LINK TO ACTUAL TEXT HERE on October 6, 2011. And the House of representatives followed on June 18, 2012. The resolutions acknowledged the violent history of the Chinese exclusion laws and affirmed responsibility to protect the civil rights of all people regardless of their ethnicity.

“It is a time in our history that America tried to forget but that we, as a community, have fought to have remembered,” declared Organization of Chinese Americans Executive Director NAME HERE.

The 1882 Project that brought about the passage of the resolutions was truly a national community effort.

There was passionate support and firm guidance from the Project’s Steering Committee: Chinese American Citizens Alliance, Committee of 100, Japanese American Citizens League, National Council of Chinese Americans, OCA, and Covington and Burling LLP. On Capitol Hill, the bipartisan resolve of Representative Judy Chu in the House (D-CA) and Senator Scott Brown (R-MA) in the Senate helped the resolutions pass quickly. Only four other measures of this kind had been approved by Congress, dealing with Japanese internment, Hawaiian annexation, Native American harms, and slavery.

The accomplishment of the 1882 Project, through the resolutions, is to state emphatically that Chinese Americans refuse to be invisible. Our history and stories will be told. And, through the telling and re-telling of the stories we will honor the triumphs of our forebears as well as reaffirm their faith, and ours, in the United States as a nation of principles worthy of our continuing struggle.

The next steps for the 1882 Project are to ensure that this spirit and the educational process continue. They envision the formation of an educational foundation, annual national forums on the Chinese exclusion laws and defining tangible national objectives. These objectives may include: a Presidential proclamation and White House signing ceremony, a National Chinatown Visitors and Talk Story Center, and federal funding from immigration fees for public education about the history and contributions of immigrants to the United States and for programs that promote American integration and citizenship.

Please join with us as we move forward.